The invention relates to an apparatus which can be attached to a baling press for the wrapping of a round bale of an agricultural crop located in the forming chamber of the baling press with a section of a wrapping material.
In a known apparatus of this type (DE-PS No. 29 30 590) a drive which can be switched on and off is provided for one of two pulling rollers of a pulling mechanism and is activated by a motor, by a pulling mechanism pulling the baling press or by another drive arrangement comprising a chain drive. In the actual wrapping apparatus of this type, a belt drive is provided instead of the chain drive, the driving belts of which are brought into drive transmission action with the belt pulleys by a press wheel carried by a first pivoting control lever and which can be stopped by releasing the pressure action of the press wheel on the cone belts. The cutting device consists of an elongated single knife having an approximately middle point facing the wrapping path mounted on a carrier guided in a displaceable manner. On the carrier, effective pressure springs work against both displacement directions of the carrier providing the carrier and thus the cutting device a resting position in which the cutting device is located at a distance above the plane of the strip of wrapping material occupied by the strip of wrapping material in the cutting area during the wrapping process. By means of a second pivoting control lever, the cutting device can be lowered against the effect of a first group of springs into a cutting position in which the cutting knife penetrates the plane of the wrapping strip.
In order to carry out the wrapping process after having finished the bale forming, the first pivoting control lever is actuated by an operator switching on the drive for the pulling rollers of the pulling mechanism, pulling off a strip of wrapping material from the supply roll and conveying it to the entrance opening of the crop in the forming chamber. As soon as the strip of the wrapping material has been grasped by the bales or the crop and brought along during continued pulling, the drive can be switched off at the pulling cylinders by returning the first pivoting control lever to its initial position. Continuing movement of the strip of wrapping material by the round bale, which generally performs a rotary movement around its longitudinal axis during the wrapping process by means of conveyor means active in the forming chamber, results in the round bales being increasingly wrapped by the strip of wrapping material until a desired degree of wrapping has been reached. This, generally, is at least an approximately 390.degree. wrapping angle, however, the wrapping angle can be, for example, 720.degree. or 900.degree. as well. In the latter cases, the degree of wrapping assures the secure retention of the wrapping on the outer circumference of the round bale without gluing the overlapping areas of the strip of wrapping material even in those instances when the wrapped bale is ejected out of the forming chamber onto a field.
If the operator notices that a desired degree of wrapping has been reached, the wrapping process can be concluded by activating the second pivoting control lever, thus cutting off the wrapping strip.
It is the object of the invention to provide an apparatus which can be brought into action by activating a single pivoting control lever and which, when having reached a specified degree of wrapping, is automatically turned off.
The apparatus in the invention enables a simple one-lever operation with only the wrapping process having to be initiated when operating the pivoting control lever. During the wrapping process there is a measuring process by which the reaching of a specified degree of wrapping of the round bales can be determined and at the end of which there is an automatic cutting of the strip of wrapping material enveloping the round bale from the elongated length of wrapping material on the supply roll. With the automatic termination of the wrapping process, the apparatus returns to the initial position for the wrapping of a subsequent round bale by repeated operation of the single pivoting control lever. Hand in hand with the simplified operation, there is an increased accuracy of the wrapping since all of the bales are wrapped with the same degree of wrapping by the strips of wrapping material independently of the observations of an operator. The design of the apparatus in the invention enables an especially simple supplementing of baling presses with such an apparatus without significant changes to the baling press and with the lowest possible mounting expenditures. Baling presses can be made by the manufacturer without additional significant expenditures for such subsequent supplementation. The special design of the cutting device assures a rapid and particularly clean cutting of wrapping materials of all types, even of net or lattice-designed wrapping materials, since the separation of the wrapping strip is accomplished by a true cutting process in the entire area of the cutting line, the process being additionally so short that fraying due to breakage because of uneven simultaneous overall cutting can be avoided.
Other features which are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described in relationship to specific embodiments, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivilents of the claims.
The construction and operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.